BusSchool – Practising Safety

Travelling by bus safely and independently. That is the aim of the VBN BusSchool.

Many children travel to school by bus even at primary school age. From the fifth grade (the move to secondary school), the number of pupils on buses rises dramatically again. But adults are often not aware that safe and conflict-free bus travel requires that many behavioural rules must be observed, and many children still have to learn them. Verkehrsverbund Bremen/Niedersachsen (VBN) therefore offers the free BusSchool in the VBN districts for primary schools and Year 5 in order to train the right behaviour at bus stops and in the vehicles. Our aim is for children to be able to travel safely and independently by bus. 

In the cities of Bremen and Oldenburg, the BusSchool is offered by the local transport companies BSAG and VWG Oldenburg.

Teaching in the BusSchool

The BusSchool takes place in the registered school. It is designed as a 90-minute event and is broken down into a theoretical part in the classroom and a practical part in our InfoBus. Two classes can always be taught at the same time thanks to our two BusSchool trainers, differing in secondary schools.

In the classroom, we introduce the subject of travelling by bus to the children with a short educational film. Building on that, we talk about possible problems that may arise. In the InfoBus, we practise various situations, such as boarding and alighting, stowing school bags and behaviour during the journey. And the correct use of safety equipment - for example, the emergency hammer - is demonstrated. Not least, it is also about treating each other with respect. Among other things, the children learn to give up seats for older and disabled people, keeping noise down and not blocking free spaces with school bags.